Libya Summit: Participants Agree to Respect Arms Embargo

Libya has sunk further into chaos since the 2011 ouster and killing of its longtime dictator

By Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson •Published on January 19, 2020 at 1:16 pm

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that countries with interests in Libya’s long-running conflict have agreed that they should respect a much-violated arms embargo, which should be better controlled than it has been to date.

The participants at Sunday’s summit in Berlin agreed to provide no further military support to the warring parties while a cease-fire lasts, Merkel said after about four hours of talks at the chancellery in Berlin.

Among those attending were Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Guterres said all the participants committed to “put pressure on the parties for a full cease-fire to be reached.”

Merkel hosted leaders from 11 countries outside Libya as well as the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union and the Arab League.

Libya's two main rival leaders, Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj and Gen. Khalifa Hifter, also came to Berlin.

Asked whether Sarraj and Hifter were part of the talks in Berlin, Merkel said: “We spoke with them individually because the differences between them are so great that they aren't speaking with each other at the moment.”

Merkel and her foreign minister met both men at the chancellery before the summit began. Merkel said the two men agreed to name members of a military committee that will represent them at talks on a more permanent cease-fire.

Guterres said that the committee would be convened “in Geneva in the coming days.”

He said countries that weren't invited Sunday will be given the opportunity to participate in future meetings of the four committees dealing with various aspects of the crisis, among them military issues and the economy.

"We know that the work has only just started," Maas said, but praised the "spirit of cooperation" seen in Berlin.

The U.N. envoy on Libya, Ghassan Salame, said “now I'm thinking about tomorrow." He said that Sunday's meeting had given the process a boost.